Reading Rambo

I can't even talk about the rest of the book apart from the ending right now, because what??? What?? I knew the end was going to be weird/discussiony because you all TOLD ME it was, but I didn't realize it was so right off the boat This Would Make Shit Go Down on Tumblr maybe-not-okayish. Where Social Justice Policing Reaches Asinine Levels™ So if you want a basic rundown of Boy, Snow, Bird with pretty much no spoilers, it's about a young woman who abandons her abusive rat catcher father, escapes to Massachusetts or Connecticut or something, and creates a life for herself in the small town in which she winds up. Her name is Boy. The daughter of the man she marries is named Snow. Her next daughter is Bird. There is SO MUCH about race in here, but I feel like it's one of those situations where Oyeyemi has buried most of the book ten inches underground, and you have to dig to figure it out, but quite frankly, I don't want to dig. This book would be fantastic

UNLIKE THIS READATHON *cries in a corner* I actually did weirdly better in this readathon than I have in most others. I'm over halfway done with Boy, Snow, Bird , halfway through Medieval Women , and I read a chapter of 2 Kings, meaning I have two left and then BAM! 1 Chronicles ahoy. I also ate Chipotle, grilled cheese, mini muffins, hummus, carrots, and copious amounts of Mr Pibb. Oh, and one of the mini pies my girlfriend baked because she is awesome. it was her first time making pie So much eaten! A relatively okay amount read! Boy, Snow, Bird is starting to get weird and I was somehow not expecting that. WHAT'S YOUR GAME, OYEYEMI .  Medieval Women is fantastic. It's this book of essays published in 1975 and based on lectures by Eileen Power, who had died by then. Our culture's ideas about women are at least partially based on ideas formulated during the medieval period! We cannot understand our present without looking to our past! History is import

So I woke up 20 minutes late for the minithon (which starts at 10 CST, so NO EXCUSE), but I promptly ate a bag of mini muffins and read the first essay in Eileen Power's STELLAR collection, Medieval Women . I have now read excellent things like: Just as in the nineteenth century the Romantic movement followed on the 'age of reason' and the Revolution it inspired, so in the Middle Ages the turbulence of the Dark Ages was succeeded by the age of chivalry and of the Virgin. GOOD STUFF.  I also have an assortment of snack things, because that's why we do this. LOOK AT HOW HEALTHY THAT SHIT IS (aside from the mini muffins) Quorn is made out of like, soy and dirt. So healthy. Mm. I'm probably going to read more of Medieval Women , because I think I took it from the home of one of my grandparents and have been meaning to read it for yeeeears, and also I've just been reading a lot of medieval stuff lately. Anyone been noticing that? I certainly have. An

Wtf is in that vial? Is that in the book? Our journey through the Megan Whalen Turner series continues! With The Queen of Attolia . I was assured by certain parties that this would be much better than The Thief , despite me liking The Thief muchly. I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS. Different thoughts from that So The Thief was pretty much a big road trip book, and this is more a sitting around, plotting & scheming book. THE SCHEMES ARE COOL, but I do like me some road tripping, so that was a lost element IMO. Along with the road trips came the made up mythology stories (more made up than normal since they came from Megan Whalen Turner's mind and not the zeitgeist of an entire nation), and in this book there is only ONE made up mythology story. It's a really good one. But still. One. In Queen of Attolia , we're still in the place that is basically Ancient Greece, with the kingdoms of Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis. This book obviously has a pretty big focus on Attolia,

MINITHONS FOREVER. Tika at Reading the Bricks is hosting another minithon this Saturday. Minithons are for the lazy. Minithons are for the uncommitted. Minithons are for us. But honestly, reading for 24 hours would make me want to stab books with a letter opener (it'd be better if they were all epistolary novels. ahahaha). But eight hours? GOT IT. I can work that into my day. Plus by 'read for eight hours' what's really meant in the minithon is 'read a little bit and eat a lot of snacks and post pictures of your books and your snacks. But mostly your snacks.' My current plans for the minithon consist of sitting in Wisconsin with a cat constantly headbutting me while I eat things and attempt to read currently the following books (we'll see how many make it up there): Catherine de' Medici , Leonie Frieda.  I'm at the point where Catherine's husband Henri II (king of France) is about to die in a joust. Then his mistress is getting shi

Reign . What a great show. Do you like ridiculous levels of drama? Do you have a penchant for young people standing on cliffs looking windswept? Do you casually enjoy references to a dark wood next to a castle that no one should enter because PAGANS? Well then journey on over to the CW, my friends, and examine their 16th century offerings. (and by 'to the CW' I mean Netflix, 'cause no one has regular TV anymore) When Reign premiered, they had some kind of viral marketing campaign all over Chicago, and I said "NO. I will not watch a show about Sexy Mary, Queen of Scots and support more revisionist bullshit about her. NEIN." Because I have highly disliked Mary, Queen of Scots ever since I started loving Elizabeth I (around age 15) because how could you NOT? My feelings are best summed up by this graphic I made back in the day to illustrate their differences: But Reign  focuses on Mary's early life, i.e. when she lived in France and was betrothed to the

When I saw that Andrea Martin --  SCTV  alum and, more importantly, Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding -- had written a book, I immediately badgered HarperCollins about getting a copy to review and they very GRACIOUSLY responded yes. So I read her book Lady Parts , and y'know what, I'm glad I did. SCTV  was an early sketch comedy show in Canada. The cast included awesome people you've laughed at like Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, and John Candy. Andrea Martin was part of this cast, and while I, y'know, haven't really watched SCTV , I am GRATEFUL to it for all the people it bestowed unto my television. ...they were on a lot of drugs in the '70s Andrea Martin's a character actress, and a hilarious one. Aunt Voula is CLEARLY the best part of My Big Fat Greek Wedding , and has the only lines anyone quotes from it anymore ("What do you mean he don't eat meat?...oh, that's okay. I make lamb!"), in

I have been READING, and I was reading a variety of things, but then Storm of Swords , the third in the George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones series, grabbed me and now I can read nothing else. And I know -- I KNOW it's called A Song of Ice and Fire , but I'm not doing that. Everyone calls it GoT because of the TV show, and the culture has adapted accordingly. I'm gonna be pretty unspoilery, but everyone knows the Red Wedding is a thing that exists, and I will argue it is WAY WORSE when you know it's coming. Any mention of a wedding and I cringed, and then finally they were all going there, none the wiser and I was having panic attacks. MY BABIES how could this happen to you. Ugh. Those people better get theirs. THEY BETTER GET THEIRS. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE Someone told me they thought Danaerys was boring in this book, but I am TOTES INTO HER. I didn't think I would be, but she's awesome. And I am currently supporting her as eventual winner. Her or Margae